Anti-mining group Ours Not Mines has launched a new fundraising campaign, backed by some of New Zealand's greatest musicians, called Musicians Against Mines.
Some of New Zealand's most popular songs are being hand-written and auctioned on TradeMe, with raised funds going towards Ours Not Mines’ campaign and legal funds.
Ours Not Mines founder and former music label executive Morgan Donoghue says Musicians Against Mines will be an "incredible opportunity" for Kiwis to buy hand-signed lyrics from their favourite artists.
"When I started reaching out to New Zealand musicians, I was amazed at the overwhelmingly positive response," Donoghue said.
"Just looking at the list we have, there are numerous number-one singles, number-one albums, and multiple Silver Scroll-winning songs. That is an incredible response from the NZ musician community."
There are over 20 artists involved, including Benee, Blindspott, Che Fu, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Georgia Lines, Goldenhorse, Greg Johnson, Hollie Smith and Don McGlashan, Kings, Ladi 6, Muroki, P-Money, Peter Urlich, Sanoi, Tadpole, The Black Seeds, The Naked and Famous, The Phoenix Foundation and more.
"There are so many exciting pieces of NZ Musical history in this collection of works," Donoghue said.
"Rodney Fisher from Goodshirt hasn’t just given us lyrics; he’s hand-painted a watercolour of the Coromandel waterfall, while Dr Karl Steven of Supergroove has written out the correct lyrics to Can’t Get Enough, one of New Zealand’s most iconic songs.
"He swears that every version online has something wrong, and this will be the first time that the proper lyrics have been available to the public, ever."
It comes after an underground mining project has been proposed just north of OceanaGold’s existing Waihi mine operations. "It is supplemented by the Gladstone open pit that lies directly to the west of the Waihi processing plant," according to Mining.com.
Donoghue said Ours Mines will continue its fight in the courts against OceanaGold-proposed new mine at Wharekirauponga.
"This is on DOC stewarded land so should be protected at all costs so we can all enjoy pristine untouched bush for generations to come. Aotearoa doesn’t want or need foreign mining companies tearing up the land," Donoghue said.
"We don’t think there should be any new mines anywhere on the motu."
Ours Not Mines was unsuccessful with its challenge in the High Court, but has appealed against the ruling.
Hauraki District Council Mayor speaks out
1News spoke to Hauraki District Council mayor Toby Adams about the plans to mine for gold in the area.
"The mining company that is currently in Waihi, they've got a resource consent that is lodged with council, and they've just asked for that to go on hold for a while.
"I believe they're in discussion with the ministers about whether they can potentially be one of the fast-track applications going forward," Adams said.
He said gold mining in Waihi "has been around for a long, long, long time, and this project has been on the cards for a number of years, in various stages".
He said there were positives and negatives to gold mining: "They do have some good practices, and they do employ a lot of people, there is a lot of positivity, but there's also people that are opposed to mining, in general — and a lot of people that worry they're having a negative effect on the environment."
Adams said he thinks some people don't understand that local councils must accept consents, "we don't get a choice in saying yes or no."
"One thing with the current Resource Management Act and applying for consents is that it gives space for the people that are out there in the community to voice their concerns and have them heard by the commissioners that are hearing those deliberations, and if it's going through the fast track process, it sort of eliminates that and takes that process out of it — which not everyone is going to agree with."
He continued: "When its going through that hearing process, the costs are met by the person that's lodged the consent. Once a decision is made, whether it's a yes or a no, and if that decision is appealed, then we have to start defending that decision and those costs are borne by the ratepayer - and they can be extremely huge.
"I just hope environmental impacts can be taken into account when [the Government] makes its decision."
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